A State Council executive meeting presided by Premier Li Keqiang on Aug 26 approved a batch of support measures for the growth of financial leasing, reduction of fees for foreign trade, third-party assessment on the implementation of key policies and changes in professional titles for school teachers.

Financial leasing

The meeting pointed out that speeding up the development of financial leasing, part of the government’s efforts to deepen financial reform, will help ease funding difficulties, raise enterprises’ investment and boost industrial upgrades.

First, the government will remove the minimal capital requirement for financial leasing companies when setting up subordinate businesses, and streamline administrative procedures for exporting agricultural and medical equipment.

Second, the government will encourage the leasing of equipment in high technology and clean energy sectors, and support the establishment of leasing companies targeted at small enterprises and farmers. It will also seek to encourage China’s global capacity cooperation through leasing.

Third, the government will innovate new models such as “Internet Plus”, establish trading markets for lease items and second-hand equipment, and develop leaseback businesses. In addition, the government will increase policy support, such as rewards and risk compensation, so that financial leasing better serves the real economy.

Foreign trade boost

The meeting agreed that slashing fees will help enterprises relieve their financial burden and boost foreign trade.

First, fees collected by the central government during export and import procedures will be reduced, fee standards for service operations managed by local governments be reappraised or cut, and double or cross charges during security checks canceled.

Second, the government will unify fee standards for domestic and foreign trade ports, formulate regulations on cost supervision and publication, as well as set up an open list for fees charged during export and import procedures.

Third, the government will forbid current arbitrary charges during export and import procedures, facilitate licensing for competitive services and the marketization of fees, and investigate unauthorized charges due to monopoly or abuse of power.

Third-party appraisals

The meeting said the State Council has authorized third-party institutions such as the China Association for Science and Technology, the Development Research Center of the State Council and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to evaluate the implementation of critical policies such as public entrepreneurship and mass innovation, increase the supply of public goods and services and alleviate poverty.

In general, the policies have had a positive effect on stabilizing growth, expanding employment and improving people’s livelihood, but there have been problems during implementation. The meeting urged governments to overcome inefficient administration to ensure proper policy implementation.

First, driven by innovation and entrepreneurship, the government will speed up efforts to ensure the implementation of sharing scientific and technological resources, formulating preferential taxation policies, expanding financing channels, encouraging businesses startups and reforming the rights to use, dispose and profit from scientific and technological achievements.

Second, the government will further remove barriers such as administrative approval systems and funding difficulties to accelerate major projects such as renovation of shantytowns and improvement of railways. A guiding fund for public-private-partnership projects was urged to be set up for effective investment.

Third, the government should improve the mechanism to identify impoverished people, and integrate capital and resources to effectively deal with poverty alleviation. Good use has to be made of the innovative method of third-party assessment to provide social support for policy implementation.

Teacher titles

The meeting also urged the nationwide reform of professional titles for primary and middle school teachers, which is critical to optimize the allocation of resources and ensure strong faculties for imparting basic education.